When Heros Go Missing
by TakeoKamiyo
Summary: When the keyblade mysteriously reappears back on Destiny Island and chooses a new user Kairi is worried about Sora. Then when Riku comes back searching for their friend they join together to find him. Sora
1. Default Chapter

Okay first I'll get rid of the part of the story that nobody really likes. I do not own Kingdom Hearts in any way shape or form so you can't sue me or anything like that. I do however own my own storyline and characters so I would be much obliged if you would not steal those.

Okay this story is going to take place just a few years after the end of the video game. This will be using the secret ending in the game so it will be a slight spoiler if you haven't finished the game and gotten the secret ending. Anyway the normal R/R kind of thing so please enjoy the story.

Prologue

_Kari's head darted from side to side, her blue eyes wide with fear in the unfamiliar area. Both the sky and land were black. The very air itself felt evil and it chilled her down to the bone._

_"Kairi."_

_The voice made Kairi's head snap up. It was the voice that always made her feel better when she heard it. "Sora."_

_The young man's hand grasped hers and she could feel his warmth even through the thick material of his glove. His sapphire eyes looked into her own and she smiled slightly. As they held hands the ground they were standing on started to slip away from each other._

_"Kairi I've got to find Riku. I'll come back to you."_

_"Okay." With that Sora's hand slipped away and he started to run. To run away from her._

Kairi awoke with a start, sweat rolling down her face and plastering her long red hair to her face. Her chest was heaving as if she had just come from a ten mile run, her blood surging through her veins. She slowly calmed down as she recognized that she was in her bed at home.

The teenager slipped out of her bed clothes and into red shorts and a white tank top. In the three years since she had last seen Sora she had grown to almost five and a half feet and her curves were definitely more feminine. Her red hair had darkened to a red so dark it was almost black that flashed like fire in the morning light and she had grown it out long so that it fell past her shoulders now. Even with all of these changes her crystal blue eyes still held the same happy light. Where Kairi could have easily been called cute when she was younger there was no other word but beautiful that would describe her now.

Sunlight was already streaming in through her slightly open door and Kairi walked out into the light. The sun's warmth sunk into the cold girl's flesh, warming her. She dug her toes into the sun warmed sand and sighed. She had that same dream a few times every month and she always woke up sweating from it.

She shook her head, trying to clear the dream from her head, and headed back into her room. Her wooden sword was quickly taken down from the rack in her room and she headed out onto the beach. Sword practice had become her one obsession ever since Sora and Riku had left. She just couldn't help blaming herself for being so helpless during that time with the heartless and if they ever came back she would be ready.

Letting out a deep breath she brought her sword slowly up in front of her and shifted her feet in the sand to balance herself. Slowly, her sword came up above her head as she turned, drawing her right foot through the sand behind her. Suddenly her sword came down in a hard chop that made the air whistle around the polished wood. The direction the blade shifted and she was spinning around, her blade cutting a circle around her. Her routine continued, getting faster and faster until her blade was a blur. Sweat dripped down her face and the neckline of her tank top was soaked through.

"Hey, Kairi." At the sound of the voice Kairi stopped, her chest heaving as she fought to draw in air and muscles trembling from her recent exertions. She turned and saw Selphie standing behind her.

"Hey." Kairi said breathlessly. The red head dropped her sword to the ground and practically collapsed down beside it.

"You had the nightmare again."

Kairi glanced up in surprise at her friend. Ever since the two boys had disappeared from the island Selphie had become her best and stoutest friend, talking to her and Selphie was the one teaching her to fight. The teen didn't know she was so transparent to her friend, though.

"How did you know?"

"You always work much harder on your sword fighting after you've had that dream." Selphie adjusted her yellow dress before plopping down on the sand beside her friend. The pair sat for a while in silence, just watching the sun's brilliant ray dancing on the waves.

"Hey, Selphie." Kairi's voice was almost a whisper and she sounded so vulnerable that Selphie looked over at the red head in concern. "Do you think that Riku and Sora are ever going to come back?" To her surprise Selphie started to laugh.

"Come on Kairi. Of course they are both going to come back. How could they resist a beautiful little thing like you? Especially Sora." Kairi blushed hotly at her friends teasing.

"Selphie."

"You don't have to try and fool me. Besides I'm the only girl on this island. Who else is going to give you advice about boys?" Selphie stuck her tongue out and winked at her friend.

"I'm glad that you're here with me Selphie. I don't know what I would do if I was stuck here with only the boys." Kairi smiled at her friend. A sudden flash of light assaulted both of the girl's eyes and a sudden stinging sensation filled Kairi's face. The dots slowly faded from their eyes and the young red head could feel the sticky sensation of blood sliding down her face.

"What was that?" Selphie asked.

"I don't know." They both turned around and saw a sword buried tip first in the ground. The weapon was elaborate with flame like metal twisting up from the hilt and around the mirror finished blade. A chain hung from the end of the hilt that ended in a strange symbol. Kairi could recognize the weapon. She had seen Sora with it just before he had disappeared. The keyblade.

"Kairi, do you recognize it?"

"Sora."

End Note: I know it was short but it was just the prologue so don't worry. The next chapter will be longer.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay if you really want to read the disclaimer then go to the prologue of the story and read it. Though if you do care about the disclaimer that much then you are probably a lawyer and in that case please don't sue me.

Okay this is the first chapter of the actual story so let's get into this. Anyway please read and review because it can only make me get better.

**When Heroes Go Missing**

Chapter 1

"What does Sora have to do with this swordy thingy?" Selphie asked, glancing over at her friend. Kairi looked like she had been slapped across the face. Her jaw hung slightly in shock and tears glistened in the corners of her eyes. "Kairi is something wrong?"

The young woman slowly crawled forward towards the weapon. She could feel her heart beating in her chest and her breath was ragged as if she had been running for miles. Shaking violently, she reached out and grabbed the hilt of the weapon. When nothing happened she lowered her head and sobs wracked her body.

"Kairi what's wrong?" Selphie rushed over and placed her hands on the shoulders of her friend.

"Sora's dead."

Flashback

A much younger Kairi sat on a bench in the middle of the square in Transverse Town. Her feet swung back and forth just above the ground as she stared upwards, her beautiful eyes taking in the sky above her. As wonderful as the view was tears still slid down the young girls face.

Leon sat down next to Kairi, his eyes joining hers in their celestial search. The young fighter of Transverse Town stayed silent, waiting for Kairi to ask the questions that he knew she wanted to.

"Is Sora going to be alright?" Kairi finally asked, struggling to keep her voice level and steady.

"I'll tell you the truth Kairi. Sora is going against some of the strongest people in all of the worlds, with nothing but his two friends and the keyblade. Who knows what his chances are of survival are." Kairi could feel her heart dropping as Leon uttered those words.

"But I wouldn't worry about Sora too much. He has the strongest heart of anybody that I've ever seen, and that is why the keyblade won't leave him. The only way he could ever lose the keyblade is if he were to die. So as long as the keyblade is with him you'll know he's alive."

Flashback End

"What are you talking about Kairi. Sora can't be dead he is just out looking for Riku and ….." Selphie's voice faded off as she saw the look of certain horror on her friend's face. "It just, well how can you be sure?"

"Sora's weapon is here. He wouldn't get rid of it if he wasn't able to still hold it in his hands." Kairi's voice was strangely emotionless, showing nothing of her inner turmoil that was threatening to rip free from her skin. One of the few things that she ever relied upon in her life to always be there was suddenly ripped from her in the blink of an eye.

"Kairi …." The complete lack of emotion on her friend's face was starting to worry her. She had even lost the little bit of sadness she had in the beginning. A sob, a tear, anything would have at least showed she wasn't breaking under the stress but this steely exterior was worrying Selphie. It was like the sudden news had broken the red head.

"I'm okay Selphie I just need to go and be alone for a bit." Kairi grabbed the hilt of the weapon again and pulled it from the sand. Light flashed and the sword broke into several balls of light that hovered in the air for a few seconds before disappearing. The young teen could still feel the blade on the edge of her consciousness thought and she knew that she could call upon the weapon when she needed it. Not that she ever wanted to even look at it again.

Moving around to the other side of the island, Kairi settled down on the remains of the raft that the three friends had built. It felt like it had been decades ago. The logs were starting to rot in the hot and humid air that made up the island's weather at all times but it still made a nice place to sit and look at the ocean. The red head took off her shoes and socks and let her legs hang off the side. The seawater played around her ankles as waves washed over her feet.

Now that she was away from Selphie she allowed the emotions to break over her like the waves breaking over her feet. Tears wetted her cheeks and her whole body trembled as sobbed racked her thin frame. She had never even thought about Sora ever dieing in his mission, it was just her assumption that he would come back when he had finished and they would pick up on the little romance they had felt before. But he wouldn't come back.

She lifted on hand up in front of her and the ultimate keyblade flashed into existence in her hand, the chain swinging slightly from the blades sudden appearance. Even though it was something that had been made to kill and destroy it did hold a beauty all of its own. The gracefully curling metal bent around the silvery blade and the sun glittered off both of the types of metal, making the keyblade seem like it was on fire. This only made Kairi want to throw the weapon as far into the ocean as it could go, and she had even drawn back the arm to throw when a sense of duty stopped her.

Sora had died to try and wipe out the heartless and now that had seemed to have been passed onto Kairi. It was something that needed to be done for everybody but at the moment Kairi couldn't have cared less about everyone else. Because they had needed protection Sora wasn't around anymore. The people she cared about, Riku and then Sora had suffered because no one else had done anything.

But Kairi could do something. She had trained ever since she had last seen Sora to be able to help him so she wouldn't be left behind. Maybe now she could actually use the training that she had put herself through to good use. Not for the destruction of the heartless or to save the world or any high handed ideal such as that but for revenge. Revenge for Sora's death, plain and simple.

With this new idea firmly in her mind she sent the magnificent blade to wherever it rested in-between battles, collected her shoes and socks, and moved back to her house. She had plenty of things that she had to do before any sort of battle could be waged.

Up on the cliff side that edged the beach Kairi had just left the young woman's only three friends on the island. The three teens had grown up with her and had become truly worried about their friend in the past few years since Sora and Riku had disappeared. The red hared teenager had become practically obsessed with becoming a great fighter and the three had been swept up with her, each of them becoming powerful fighters in their own right.

Selphie had filled the other two in on what had happened at the beach with the keyblade and while none of the three fully understood it they did know where it was leading. Kairi was going after Sora and one way or another she was taking the fight to the enemy. The question wasn't if the three of them would go with her but how long it would take her to admit that she needed the help.

"She be determined, ya." Wakka said, smiling sadly at Kairi's retreating back. He adjusted the heavy ball he had tucked under one arm, his main weapon, and ran his other hand through his styled brown hair.

"You knew she would be. But I don't know what good that is going to do, without whatever ship it is that Sora uses there isn't anyway to move between planets to search." Tidus shook his head as he spoke.

"She just lost the person most important to her. If she has to build her own ship I believe she'll do it." Selphie's legs hung off the edge of the cliff and she swung them back and forth absently.

"How can she be sure that Sora is dead, man. I mean he is a long way away, ya?" Wakka asked.

"You didn't talk to her. She was so sure I don't think that she has any doubt whether she is wrong or not. Sora is dead and she wants …. No she needs to do something about that." The three friends lapsed into silence. They had each known Sora and Riku but while they had been here the friends had really been split up into two groups. Riku, Sora, and Kairi in one group and the three left in the other. They didn't feel the same ravenous grief as Kairi did, only a pang of regret for time not able to be spent strengthening the friendship that had started years ago.

"We better be ready for tomorrow because I have a feeling that we will need to be ready to kick some ass." Tidus turned and Wakka follow him down the cliff.

"I just hope that Kairi will still be the Kairi I'm friends with when this is done." Slephie whispered underneath her breath. She stared out at the sea for several more seconds before she stood and brushed the dirt from her dress as she walked home.

The wind whipped across the island after the sun had fallen that night bending the trees practically in half and blowing up tornados of sand that howled across the beach and crashed into the houses, showering the wood with the particles of grit they carried. Rolling black clouds had moved over the sky, lightening flashing from cloud to cloud. There was no rain yet but the clouds promised it in the near future. Destiny Island was used to violent storms that would sweep off the ocean with no warning but this one seemed to be something different. It seemed to radiate an almost palpable evil.

Underneath the cover of the storm the Heartless had come. They were a type that hadn't been seen before. Vaguely humanoid, they walked on two legs, but there arms were so long the bags dragged along the ground, each hand tipped with five long and curling claws. Two long feelers sprouted from the top of its wide head and moved in every direction. Yellow eyes stared from the insect like face over top of two massive maniples that constantly clicked against each other as the creature walked.

Strangely enough for the Heartless they seemed to be worried about being seen, keeping low to the ground and moving towards cover as soon as they broke the water line. They moved with a purpose, all converging on a single house and an open window. One of the new Heartless stepped up to the window and poked its head inside, feelers moving along the edge of the window sill.

Suddenly one of the Heartless's head jerked upwards and clicked its mandibles in what seemed to be a question. A silken sound filled the air and it head slid slowly from its thin neck and hit the ground with a thump. The now decapitated Heartless slid to the ground before it exploded into a shower of black dust that rolled away. A keyblade was buried point first in the sand. This wasn't the same weapon as Kairi now carried through. The blade and hilt were silver and the blade was shorter, only just two feet long.

A figure landed in the middle of the Heartless, completely swathed in a heavy black cloak that obscured all of his features except that it was obviously male. In his hand he held another blade that was the exact twin of the one now stuck in the sand. The Heartless milled around the figure nervously, antenna twitching as they tried to figure out what to do with this new opponent that they had found. He didn't give them the chance.

The blade he had thrown before shot from his hand and exploded through a Heartless' chest before starting to arc back like an oversized boomerang. The figure hadn't been idle while his weapon continued on its destructive path but jumped at another one and put his sword through a dazzling routine that left his opponent confused up until it burst into smoke.

By now the heartless seemed to have got back a semblance of order and several attacked at once, swinging their long arms like clubs at the cloaked attacker. With a grunt the figure leapt high into the air, over the heads of the Heartless, and aimed his remaining sword down. Fire gathered around the tip of the weapon and the figure thrust it forward, sending a barrage of fireballs into the massed enemies below him. The fire cut through the Heartless, blowing several to the ground before they dissolved into nothing.

Suddenly a hug hand slashed down, batting the figure from the air and crashing into the heartless, spraying sand into the air and destroying several Heartless. The figure managed to sink one hand into the sand and used that to pivot from his spin back onto his feet. The figure glanced up and saw the thing that had attacked him. A Darkheart was climbing out of the sea, water pouring from the hole where its heart should have been.

Lights snapped on in the houses along the beach and the sounds of worried people joined in with the sounds of battle. Kairi sat up in her bed and with a flash of light the keyblade appeared in her hands. It took her a few seconds to even understand why she had woken from her sleep but the sounds of fighting managed to work its way into her sleep fogged brain.

The redhead sprang from her bed and quickly took an inventory of what she had. She was dressed in the clothes she slept in, short black shorts and a red top that was too small for her and came several inches above the top of her shorts. Not much protection in a fight. Of course she had the keyblade and the years of sword practice she had forced on herself.

Kairi moved over to the window, her eyes taking in the chaos on the beach. It was just like that day all those years ago, the evil storm hitting the island while heartless swarmed the island and that monster towering over them all. Just like the day Sora had disappeared. Things were different now though because now Kairi had the power to do something about it.

Kairi placed a hand on the windowsill and pushed herself onto the sand outside. She stabbed the keyblade forward, taking one of the Heartless in the forehead and ripped it out, letting the Heartless burst into black dust. Another Heartless ran in, swinging both heavy arms like clubs. The young redhead managed to get the keyblade between her and one arm but the other clipped the side of her head and set her to the ground.

Black dots swum in front of her vision as she tried desperately waved the keyblade in front of her to keep her opponent back while her vision cleared. As the dots cleared she managed to see the Heartless's arm descended towards her head again. Suddenly the Heartless jerked to the side as a dark blur crashed into its side and threw it to the sand. A blitzball landed at Kairi's feet and rolled beside her free hand.

The red head glanced over and saw her three friends a few yards down the beach and running towards her. Kairi slid her hand underneath the strange weapon that Wakka used and threw it to him. He caught the projectile and threw it at the downed Heartless without ever missing a step. The weapon hit the Heartless in the head and dissolved it into black mist before the ball rebounded back to its owner.

'It's been to long since I really used this, ya. I'm out of practice." Wakka said as they drew up beside Kairi. Kairi accepted Tidus's hand up and looked around the battle torn beach. The smaller Heartless seemed to have been mostly destroyed though the Darkheart was still in battle with the cloaked figure. As she watched White energy gathered around the figure's sword and he jumped into the air. He swung his blade down and a wave of white energy extended out of his weapon, cutting the Darkheart from the top of its head to its feet. The two pieces slide away from each other before they burst into the normal black dust that accompanied the a Heartless's death.

The last few remaining Heartless looked around in confusion now the strongest of them had been destroyed. Making their decision the last of the black creatures faded away into the shadows. The cloaked figure turned back towards the four friends and pulled back his hood. Silver hair glittered in lightening flashes and gray eyes met Kairi's own.

"Riku." Kairi whispered, dropping her keyblade to the sand as she took a shaky step forward.

"Kairi." Riku flashed a brilliant smile and moved to Kairi before catching the young girl in a back breaking hug. The young red head sobbed into his shoulder as her emotions finally caught up with her. She had managed to loose one of her best friends only a day before and now her other friend that she thought was lost had come back.

"Hey, what's wrong Kairi?" Riku pulled back and pushed her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. Suddenly he caught sight of the keyblade laying in the sand and recognized it immediately. "Sora."

Kairi sobbed again as tears streamed down her face. Riku pulled her close and let her cry into his shoulder. "Shhhh its okay Kairi."

End Note: Well that chapter took forever. I hit college and didn't have much time but I got some time this semester and decide to keep writing.


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